School's out for the Summer
by cherryblaster
Summary: School's out-but only for the summer. How does the flock spend their summer vacation? Will boredom, PMS, camp and rogue whitecoats slow them down? Lots of Fax and Eggy!
1. Mitochondria Fetish?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

><p><em>Tick tock, tick tock.<em>

It seemed like this day just wouldn't end. Why, why, why did we have to spend the last class of our last day of school learning biology? It wasn't even as if this class mattered all that much. Exams were over, so the last week of classes was pretty much so our parents could feel like they were getting the most out of their tax dollars.

And it was pretty much so us students could be tortured.

We were going over the worksheets that we had gotten the day before. For any wrong answers, we'd have to copy them down into our notes. That was what this class was. Going over a worksheet and copying answers. It didn't help that Mr. Grant had his back to the class most of the time and he had the most monotone voice I had ever heard.

I _so, _so wanted to be in Angel's class right now. Her class was having a party, complete with sugar, sugar and…not more sugar, but extended show and tell. Not that I enjoyed show and tell, but it was at least better than sitting here, listening to Mr. Grant drone on and on about mitosis.

Gazzy's class was going to the zoo. Again, I would much prefer going to look at monkeys and alpacas than listening about how monkeys and alpacas performed cellular respiration.

Nudge's class was going to the movie theatre. Mr. Grant could have at least showed us a cool video or something, instead of making us take notes!

I wondered when the switch had been made from the last week of school being a nonstop party, to when the last week of school was just…normal school. I wouldn't know. This was only my second year of going to school, well, consistently, and by my first year, grade 10, we sure weren't having all that much fun.

Grade 11 biology was made somewhat bearable, though, because in this class, I had Fang on one side of me, and Iggy on the other. Iggy was keeping a (perverted) verbal running commentary on the class. Fang mostly kept silent, but just his being there made me feel…better. It was actually more like I couldn't focus very well in class when Fang was holding my hand under the table, but Mr. Grant didn't need to know about that.

I still thought I was the luckiest girl alive. Well, I was the luckiest girl ever because I _was alive_. But actually, every time I looked at Fang, I found it hard to believe that we were actually together. That he'd come back after we defeated the Doomsday Group.

Well, I wasn't thinking about that when he came back. I was thinking about kicking his ass. But still. I couldn't believe that we were together. That I didn't run away every time we kissed.

"I think he's got a fetish more like, mitochondria. You see how his face just lights up whenever he mentions them?"

"Shut up Iggy," Fang hissed, "if you keep that up and Mr. Grant hears you, we'll all get detention on the last day of school. Is that what you want?"

Iggy shut up for a second, but I knew it wouldn't last. Either Fang or I had been warning Iggy about his antics every time he opened his mouth, but five minutes later, he was back with another witty (to him) comment.

Fang was getting progressively more and more pissed off.

"I mean, if he really loved mitochondria that much, he could just…I don't know, marry it or something. Or have an affair. Would that even work? I mean…eww," Iggy finished with a shudder.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder what that kid is smoking. How does a normal person get the image of a _teacher_ fooling around with _cells_? That was just…wrong. And impossible. And stupid. There was something wrong with Iggy's brain.

When Iggy finished his little spiel, I felt Fang tense up beside me in annoyance. That kid _really_ didn't want to risk detention today. His hand tightened in mine, and I squeezed back really hard, hoping that a little pain would distract him from the idea of throttling Iggy. I sighed. I could just remember what our flock was like when it was a Maxocracy. They obeyed my every word. Ahhh…good times.

"God Iggy, you're being such a Nudge," Fang whispered under his breath, "I mean, I doubt you would be able to keep quiet for _two freaking minutes!_ No one cares about Mr. Grant's fetishes anyways!"

I, along with everyone else in the class, gulped. Over the course of his mini-rant, Fang's voice had become progressively louder, until he was almost shouting the last part. Not only was that very unlike Fang, it was earning him an icy stare from Mr. Grant at that moment. It was dead quiet in the room, except for Mr. Grant's heavy breathing. His face was quickly approaching the colour of a garden tomato.

This would be interesting.

"Care to repeat that, Mr. Walker?" Mr. Grant asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

"Uh, no sir," Fang said, realizing just how much crap he was in.

"Oh, no," Mr. Grant said, his voice still soft. It was actually kind of creepy. "I think you should repeat that. In fact, you can stay after class in detention to repeat that. Are we clear?"

Now his face was…the colour of an eggplant? Mauve? How the hell did I know what colour mauve is?

Fang shrugged. "Yes Sir," he said.

Iggy face palmed himself. "Wow, it seems like Grant's got a bit of BMS," he stage whispered to me.

"What?" I whispered back, confused.

"Bitch Men Syndrome," Iggy replied.

Oh. Well, that was actually funny. I laughed along with Iggy. Quite loudly, might I add.

"Ms. Ride? Mr. Griffiths? Does something about my lecture bore you?"

Well, _crap_. "No Sir," I said, biting my tongue to keep a smart alecky comment to myself. No need to get in even more trouble than I was already in.

"Well then, I think you can recount the details of my captivating lesson after class. In detention. You too, Mr. Griffiths."

I sighed. It looked like Fang, Iggy and I had landed ourselves in detention together on the very last day of school. What can I say though? We don't like dealing with authority.

What a way to start the summer.

* * *

><p>It turns out that we were the only three kids in the school stupid enough to get in trouble on the last day of school. Yup, we were stuck in a room with no one but the <em>always lovely<em> Mr. Grant. I actually felt sorry for the guy. He had to teach high school! That can't be what kids dream of becoming when they're older.

I could just imagine it. _Hey Mommy! I wanna teach a bunch of teenagers when I grow up because I enjoy having spit balls thrown at me!_

So, detention was…uneventful. We sat, Iggy cracked immature jokes, Fang brooded, Mr. Grant glared and I doodled on the cover of my binder. It was already covered with scrawls, so I kept using thicker and thicker pens so I could see my new doodles. I was on a chisel tip Sharpie now.

I thought about the flock. They were probably at home with my mom right now, having ice cream to celebrate the end of the school year, fooling around in the pool, and where was I? Being watched by Mr. Grant in detention and doodling.

Sometimes I thought about how different our life was now, compared to…two years ago. Two years ago, when I was fourteen, we dint' know when our next meal was. We didn't know if we would live another day. We were on the run. Now, because Itex was destroyed, our biggest issue was missing out on end-of-school-year ice cream.

I thought we might be getting soft.

Dylan was another issue. After Fang came back, Dylan had mysteriously disappeared. Like Jeb did, years ago.

God, I hoped that the whitecoats didn't have him, and I hoped he was okay. Not because I had_ feelings_ for him anymore, but because I still cared about him. When Fang tore my heart out and stomped all over it, when I was acting like a lovesick puppy, Dylan was there to give me a reality check. Later, he was there to comfort me. Even if my idea of being comforted wasn't exactly being kissed, the thought was there, right?

And later, when Dylan realized that I didn't want to be more than friends, he just...accepted it. So we _were_ just friends. We got along great. Almost like Fang and I before all of the awkwardness.

Then Fang came back, and Dylan disappeared.

Don't get me wrong, I was _totally _happy that Fang was back, but I just wished that he and Dylan could have made it work somehow. That we could have all had a happy ending.

One day, my hormonal self is going to learn to balance friendship and romance.

I glanced at the clock again. _3:45. _we were here until four. For about the seventeenth time today, I found myself watching the second hand of the clock and zoning out.

_Tick tock, tick tock._

Finally, the moment the second hand hit the twelve, I shot out of my seat. Fang and Iggy did too. Huh. I guess we were all watching the clock.

Mr. Grant looked at us with distaste, as if we were some mold growing on a piece of cheese. "Ms. Ride, Mr. Walker, Mr. Griffiths, detention is over. See you in September."

"Hopefully not," I whispered to Fang. The corner of his mouth twitched, the closest he'd come to smiling. I _really _hoped that I didn't have Mr. Grant as my teacher for my senior year. I hate feeling like cheese mold.

As we left the room, Fang got Iggy into a headlock, which he escaped easily. Hmm…I might need to get the Fang back into shape if he couldn't even keep someone in a headlock for thirty seconds. Heck, all of the flock could use a bit of butt kicking. We'd been _sitting _on our butts more than we _worked_ them.

Anyways, we left school, Fang and Iggy roughhousing the whole way. Thoughts of no school stresses, no homework and tons of free time bounced happily around my brain. The feel of the sun was absolutely amazing. I seriously thought that my school should invest in some skylights, or an outdoor classroom. Some Vitamin D would really make me learn better.

I quickly pushed all thoughts of school out of my head though, and just relished in the thought of not having to go back for two whole months. I was definitely going to get enough sun this summer. By the pool. With Fang.

Oh, God, I was turning into such a girly girl.

Whatever.

The summer was mine.

* * *

><p>I burst in though the door of my mom's house, and was greeted by hugs (Angel, Nudge and Ella), fist bumps (Gazzy), and elegant lick from Total and a reprimanding look from, you guessed it, my mom.<p>

"OMG Max, so we went to the movies, and I saw a trailer for Justin Bieber's 3D concert, and I think I want to go, because Justin Bieber is _so cute_, and I love his music, even though Connor in school said he sounded like a girl, I don't think he does, because-"

I slapped a hand over Nudge's mouth. That's the Nudge Channel. All Nudge, all the time.

I glanced over at my mom. Instead of laughing at Nudge's motor mouth like she usually would, her face was grim.

"Why are you three an hour late? I was worried sick! What's the point of getting your daughter a cell phone if she doesn't even turn it on half the time?"

Wow. She was pretty pissed. Usually she was easy going, but she's really strict about not knowing where we are. Personally, I think that in her subconscious, she's always worried that the School, or some other genetic scientist is going to find us.

"Relax mom," I said gently, "Itex is gone, remember? No one's going to use us as experiments anymore. Iggy mouthed off to Fang in biology. Fang yelled at him to stuff it and I laughed. We all ended up in detention. You know how Mr. Grant is. He gets his jollies from making other people miserable."

Her face relaxed. "I guess you're right," she replied, "that Mr. Grant always did seem like he had a stick up his butt."

I grinned. See? My mom is just about the coolest mom ever. She was actually more of a sister than a mom to me.

"That doesn't make being disruptive in class okay though," she hastily added, "in fact, I think I can cut your ice cream amount for today. Just two scoops."

Okay…scratch previous thought. She was cool, but she was still a mom.

"What are we going to do this summer Max?" Angel asked.

"Anything, sweetie, anything," I replied. "The summer is all ours. Just flock time, all the time! We're going to have a blast."

* * *

><p><strong>So…R&amp;R?<br>**


	2. White, wet T Shirt

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Hey Max?" Nudge asked as we were eating breakfast, "Could we go swimming today? I mean, it's such a <em>nice <em>day, because it's all sunny and there aren't any clouds, so the water will be warm, which is nice, because I like warm water, but sometimes, when it's hot out, I don't like it when it's too warm, but it isn't that hot today, so we should go swimming."

"Are you finished?" I asked, wondering how she managed that entire sentence in one breath.

She nodded.

"Okay, we'll go swimming today," I agreed, "It _is_ a nice day."

Nudge, Angel and Gazzy cheered.

* * *

><p>I sighed in contentment. This was the <em>life<em>. No school, no Erasers, no Itex, no stressing.

A girl could get used to this.

I was sitting on a lawn chair beside mom's pool, sipping some lemonade and eating a chocolate chip cookie. I bit into the cookie, closing my eyes as I savoured to warm, sweet, chocolaty chewiness. Pure heaven.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Fang. That was another part of this perfect summer. I was with Fang. He wasn't being an ass and leaving me, saying that we _might_ be able to meet up in twenty years. No, he was just being…Fang. He was here for me.

Now if only my other best friend was here too...

"Yeah," I said, wriggling my toes, "this is perfect."

"Max!" I heard Angel shriek, "Iggy dumped me into the water!"

I raised an eyebrow an Iggy. "Really?" I asked, "Can't find anything better to do than to terrorize eight year old girls?"

He looked confused. "What did I do?" he asked.

I was about to smack him on the head for being so annoying, when I heard the Gasman snicker. Of course. He was throwing his voice again.

Iggy, realizing this too, quickly tackled Gazzy into the pool, while Nudge and Angel laughed. Gazzy surfaced, and while Iggy was distracted, reached out his hand to tug on Iggy's ankle to bring him into the pool as well.

The look on Iggy's face when he came up was priceless.

"Yeah, _real nice_. Go ahead, pick on the blind guy," he said, putting on a fake pout.

"Please, Iggy," Fang called, "spare us from your pity party."

Iggy pretended to look hurt, before silently climbing out of the pool to push Ella in. She screamed and surfaced, sputtering. Iggy was laughing.

"Iggy!" she screamed, "What did I say about being so damn quiet all the time? At lease make some _noise_ to warn me when you're going to push me in!"

Suddenly, Iggy stopped laughing.

"You-you're wearing a _white _t-shirt, aren't you?" he said, stammering.

Ella's face turned beet red as she looked down. Sure enough, her shirt was white. It was soaked through. Her bra was black with a bunch of little pink hearts all over it.

Do you all remember one of Iggy's talents? Yup, he can see things if they're on a white background.

Cue the awkwardness!

"I-I…I'm just g-going to go change," Ella managed to get out.

Iggy's face had also turned red. "S-sure, uh, you go do that," he said, looking at his feet.

"Max," Angel asked, "What's wrong with a white shirt?"

Next to me, Fang's mouth curved into a smile. "You're gonna have to answer that," he whispered in my ear.

"Well, sweetie," I began, "White shirts get…sort of see through when they get wet. So, when Iggy pushed Ella into the pool, he could see through her shirt, so it was embarrassing for both of them."

Angel furrowed her brow. "But Iggy liked it!" she said, "He was thinking that she was the… 'damn sexiest thing' he'd ever seen. Why would he say that, Max?"

"Angel! I was _not _thinking that!" Iggy hissed at her, "And could you please keep your mouth shut when Ella's around?"

I smirked. "It sounds like _somebody's _got a cruuush!" I sang, loving every moment as I saw Iggy's face getting more and more uncomfortable.

"Shut up," he retorted, "I do _not _have a crush on Ella. She's your _sister_, for crying out loud! And I'm practically your _brother_, so wouldn't that be like, incest or something? I'll never get a chance with her."

"Well, well, well, Iggy, getting all heartbroken over a girl, are we?" Fang asked, enjoying Iggy's torture as much as I was. "And by the way, it's not incest if you're not actually related by blood. Lucky you."

Iggy's face lit up pathetically before composing itself back into what he deemed to be a "cool" expression.

"Whatever, I don't even like her. I just think she's pretty. There's a difference!" he protested.

"Actually, you don't think she's pretty," Fang put in, "You think she's _damn sexy_."

"Fine!" Iggy said loudly, "Who cares if I think Ella's sexy? It's not like I haven't heard _you_ muttering in your sleep about how hot Max is!"

"Uh, guys?" Ella said, stepping outside, "What're you talking about?"

* * *

><p><strong>Fang's POV:<strong>

Aside from that bit of Iggy awkwardness, the day was pretty uneventful. We fooled around in the pool a bit more, and ate lunch. While Iggy made lunch, he was studiously avoiding Ella. He bumped into her once, going to get some eggs, and his face was starting to match the colour of the little hearts on Ella's bra.

I was getting a little confused though. Even though our lives seemed to be going perfectly, Max sometimes seemed a little...unhappy. Ever since I came back, she'd have little moments of sadness, when it seemed like she forgot about everything else.

I might be the Emotionless Brick Wall, but I'm actually pretty good at detecting other people's emotions. I'm just not so good at...emoting my emotions.

But, there wasn't much to do. I didn't really like swimming, thanks to a certain exercise I once did at the School that involved my head getting pushed under water to determine how long I could hold my breath for.

The only thing was, even _after_ I passed out, they still kept my head under water, wondering if I could have magically have stored oxygen in my blood or something, to wake myself up.

So, I when I didn't wake up for about five minutes, they deemed that that was that, and let me go.

I woke up throwing up water.

Yeah, not the best experience.

So, there wasn't much for me to do. Unless…it was a really nice day. Perfect for flying.

"Hey Max?" I asked, leaning over to her, "do you want to go flying for a while?"

"Sure," she said, "just let me put on a pair of shorts."

Five minutes later, we were soaring above Dr. M's house, just soaking in the sun.

There's nothing like the feeling of flying. Sometimes people dream about it, but the real thing is so much better. You just get a shot of adrenaline, that powers your wings, and you feel unstoppable. I loved it.

"This is great!" Max called, yelling over the wind rushing in our ears.

"I know!" I yelled back.

We hadn't been flying in a while, so it felt really good to shake out my wings.

"Hey Fang?" Max asked.

"Yeah?" I said,

"Race you," She said mischievously.

I sighed. Max always had a competitive streak.

"That's not fair!" I protested, "You'll just go all super-speed on me and leave me riding in your tailwind!"

Max seemed to be stumped by this.

"I know!" She suddenly said, her voice brightening. "I'll just _not _use my speed! I found out a few months ago that I can…turn it off, I guess, so I don't go super fast. It's perfect!"

Well, there's no arguing with that. After two years of dating Max experience, I knew that it was usually better not to argue with her. Yeah, she definitely wore the pants in this relationship.

"Okay," I said reluctantly, "on the count of three?"

"One," she started,

"Two," I said, wondering if I was about to be humiliated by losing to her,

"THREE!" We both shouted, taking off.

Actually, when Max didn't go all crazy with her speed, we were a pretty even match. Sometimes I was ahead, sometimes she was. We were having a blast, sometimes swooping low to pass each other, sometimes doing flips when we were confident enough in our lead to show off a little.

On one of those flips though, I accidentally crashed into Max.

My chest was pressed to hers, and caught off guard, she forgot to flap. We plummeted to the ground. Max shrieked, her arms instinctively tightening around my neck.

Luckily though, we were pretty high up, so we didn't go splat before I remembered to flap again. We steadily rose again, but Max's arms never let go.

Our faces were inches apart, and I became hyper-aware that there wasn't any space between us. We were pressed together really tightly.

How long had it been since I last kissed Max? Days? Weeks? That didn't matter. All that mattered was that her eyes were closing, and I was closing the last couple of inches between us.

When our lips touched, I forgot everything, and lost myself in the feeling. I think I forgot to breathe.

I don't remember how long we stayed like that, wings flapping in sync to keep ourselves from falling, just kissing. It might have been minutes, it might have been years. I had no idea.

During moments like this, I honestly forgot everything that was stressing me out. Even Max's mood swings.

When we finally broke apart, my breathing was ragged.

"Hey Max?" I asked when I had caught my breath, "Who won?"

"In the kissing skills department? You. In the race? Well, we aren't exactly finished yet, but I'm pretty sure I was winning anyway."

"We'll see about that," I said, breaking apart from her grasp and shooting forward.

"Hey! No fair! You got a head start!" Max called after me, laughing.

"That shouldn't be a problem though, should it, Ms. Hotshot?" I asked, not slowing down.

"Shut up!" she yelled, "I'll catch up with you!"

Then she poured on the speed. I didn't really register what was happening, but then suddenly, there she was, about a hundred metres in front of me, laughing.

I smiled to myself. Max never did play fair…but somehow, I still loved her.

* * *

><p><strong>When in doubt, use Fax!<strong>

**R&R?**


	3. Crayola Colours

**Disclaimer: I don' t own Maximum Ride. _I_ would never let Fang leave Max. (Still pissed, JP, still pissed).**

* * *

><p>"I've got a great idea guys!"<p>

Well. That's not something you want to hear Gazzy say.

"What is it Gaz?" I asked, trying not to assume that this "idea", unlike all the other ones he'd proposed in the past, would include potential loss of life.

"Let's go on a trip somewhere!" He said, looking for all the world like he thought this plan was totally possible.

"ZOMG YES!" Nudge shrieked as Angel cheered, so I guessed those two were on board.

I glanced over at Fang and Iggy. Iggy looked like he was about to object, but then the traitor said, "Oh, hell. Sure. We all need to go somewhere. I don't think that I've flown, like, _seriously_, in almost a year."

Fang looked…bemused, and I didn't know whether or not he'd accept or reject this crazy plan of Gazzy's. Somehow, I didn't think he'd be piping up anytime soon.

"Okay, I'm going to go get some stuff together!" Gazzy said, already halfway up the stairs, "I'll be back in five!"

Whoa. So they were serious. Okay then. At that moment, I decided to do what a good leader has to do sometimes:

Rain on their parade.

"Hold up, hold up!" I started, gearing up for a big speech, "Look, guys, I know that you all want to get out of the house for a while and stretch out your wings. But we can't just _pack up_ and _leave._ That worked when we were on the run, but now we're…living a more civilized life, and when we want to travel, we have to book hotels and stuff. We haven't done that yet. Plus, that all costs money. Mom's away on business, remember? Who's going to pay for the hotel? And what about transportation? I get that _we_ can just fly to wherever we want to go, but what about Ella? Plus, where the hell would we _go?_ Did you think about any of this at all?"

They all looked a bit stunned for a second, as if they'd never expected to see that the "brilliant plan" that Gazzy came up with actually had some practicality issues.

While Nudge, Angel and Gazzy were looking kind of shell-shocked, Iggy seemed to be thinking.

Dangerous habit for him, I know.

"I have a plan," he announced, after a few minutes, "to make this work. So, about hotels and stuff. When your mom left you in charge, she also left a _big freaking wad of cash_. We don't have to stay in like, five star hotels or anything, so that money will be more than enough to cover a cheap motel or something. As for Ella, that won't be an issue. We're all strong, and Ella's light. We can carry her or something."

"What?" Ella blurted incredulously, "You're strong, but not strong enough to carry a _fifteen year old _girl for miles."

"She has a point," I agreed, "Plus, she doesn't have air sacs. She wouldn't be able to breathe at the heights we fly."

"I've got it covered," Iggy said confidently, "We don't have to fly that high up, because since we probably won't be going to a big city, we can fly lower, and no one will see us. Plus, I am _mucho_ strong."

At this, he bent down and scooped Ella up, bridal style.

"Ahh! Iggy! What the hell! Put me down!" Ella screamed, but it was obvious to the world that she was blushing.

"No can do," Iggy said, "I'm proving to you how _mucho_ strong I am. You're feather light. Even if I do get tired, Fang can take over for a few miles. Us he-men can get the job done."

I couldn't help but to laugh. Iggy was pretty thin, but at that moment, he had his chest puffed out and his hands on his hips in what he probably thought was a "_mucho_ strong" posture.

"Still Ig," I began, "I just don't know-"

"Ah! I wasn't finished yet!" Iggy cried, still trying to pull of his superhero routine, "About your issue about not knowing where to go. I know the perfect place."

"And where would that be?" Fang asked, looking a bit sceptical.

"There's a little abandoned cabin thingy, about a day of flying away from here. It's practically in the middle of nowhere, except for miles of grass.

"Oh, _that _cabin," Gazzy said knowingly.

What the hell?

"This way, we won't even need a hotel," Iggy continued, "It's perfect for flying around, and there's even this old rusty playground nearby. Public opinion might say that I'm too old to enjoy playgrounds, but _I_ say that you can never be too old for some slides or monkey bars. Especially if they happen to be the fifty year old, dangerous- as- hell type."

Fang's face showed a glimmer of understanding and he raised his eyebrows at me. "I have to agree with him," he said sheepishly, "there's nothing like an ancient metal slide that doesn't have side rails so you can just slide right off. Plus, in the summer, they burn half the skin on your legs off."

"And the monkey bars…" Iggy said wistfully, "They're about ten feet off the ground, so when you fall, you'll definitely go splat. Well, not _us_, of course, but you get what I mean.

"And need I mention the tire bridges?" Fang added, "Those things are so unstable, one misstep will send you careening into the concrete. No sand or small pebbles in _these_ playgrounds. Nope, these ones are badass all the way."

I swear to God that as long as I live, I will _never_ understand boys.

I was about to open my mouth to object, but then I realized that there wasn't any reason for us _not_ to go. I mean, transportation? Check. Destination? Check. Cash? Check.

Plus, Angel _and_ Nudge were turning on the bambi eyes, full force. I fell hard.

"Fine, we'll go to this supposed cabin that Iggy says exists. We'll risk our necks on this "badass" playground and fly around outside for a week. But _just_ a week, because on Monday, my mom's coming home, and something tells me that she's going to be less than happy with us flying about three hundred miles away from home without her knowing."

My flock plus Ella all cheered. Sometimes I can be so popular. Other times, not so much.

As they all traipsed up to their rooms to put a backpack together, a thought suddenly came to me.

"Hey Iggy?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"How did you know that the cabin was deserted?"

"Well, let's just say that Gazzy and I have used that area a bit too many times as our bomb range, and the owner bailed. Permanently. Not to mention loudly. It's still in good condition though!"

I smirked. What would be ever do without our two best pyros?

* * *

><p>An hour later, everyone was assembled by the front door with their backpacks. After being on the run for so long, we were all well accustomed to travelling light, although Nudge was quickly getting used to bringing a hair straightener everywhere she went. A <em>hair straightener!<em>

"Check in," I said. Hey, old habits die hard.

"Ready."

"Ready."

"Ready."

"Ready. Hey Max, is there room for one more lip gloss in your bag?"

"No Nudge."

"Oh, okay."

"Ready."

"Ready. And Max…you look absolutely beautiful. I knew I already told you this while my tongue was down your throat, but I just felt an overwhelming need right now-"

"GAZZY!" Fang roared, "What did we tell you about freaking _throwing your voice?_"

"Sorry," he replied, sounding very _not _sorry about the entire thing.

"Okay, and I'm ready," I said. "I guess where ready to hit the road-er, sky."

We all headed out to the clearing about five minutes from Mom's house. Once we were there, we had to figure out how, exactly, Iggy would carry Ella for hours while flying.

"Hold on to my neck," Iggy said, his face slightly pink.

"Like this?" Ella said, her arms snaking around his neck, blushing as well.

"Uh…yeah," Iggy said, his face flaming. "Exactly like that. Now, uh, you sort of have to wrap your legs a-around me…"

Ella's face was even redder than Iggy's. "Um, yeah. Okay," she said, sounding nervous. She held tightly around Iggy's neck, than hoisted herself up so that she was essentially hugging Iggy, but her legs weren't touching the ground. Iggy also put his arms around her, so gravity wouldn't pull her down if she accidentally let go.

That wouldn't be pretty.

Anyways, the position they were in wasn't even that bad. Iggy and Ella's faces, however, were cherry red. Actually, Iggy's face was cherry red. Ella's was more...Razzle Dazzle Rose. Crayola got their inspiration for those colours from Iggy and Ella.

I didn't even see the big deal, though.

Fang seemed to think the same thing. "You guys! It's not like you're going to have sex in the air or something, but from the way you guys are blushing, you'd think you were!"

Ella's face turned even redder. "Let's just get going," she muttered into Iggy's chest.

"I agree," I said, "Up and away!"

We all did a running take off, and launched ourselves up into the air. Despite their awkward embrace, Iggy's hold on Ella was pretty good, so it didn't look like she was going to fall anytime soon.

We didn't fly too high, again, because of Ella's lack of air sacs. It wasn't even a problem though, because first, our secret was out, so anybody seeing us wouldn't even be that bad. We just didn't like to be mobbed by rabin fangirls. Second, like Iggy said, there weren't many people around, since we weren't going above cities.

Again, I got that familiar adrenaline rush that always came with a day that was perfect for flying. Fang was flying about fifteen feet below me, his wings mirroring mine. Nudge and Gazzy were in the midst of having some kind of contest that involved flips and dive bombing. Angel was acting as a judge. Ella was seeming much more comfortable with her position, and so was Iggy.

This was as close to heaven as some of us were ever going to get.

We flew on strong for the whole morning before I started hearing:

"Maaaax, I'm staaarving."

"Maaaax, I'm gonna diiiee if I don't get fooood soon."

"Maaaax,"

"Fooood,"

"Maaaax,"

We landed in the nearest town to grab some lunch. We entered a Subway where the kids were practically salivating with hunger.

"Hi," Angel started, "I'll have a footlong turkey sub on Italian bread with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and pickles. Oh, and some mayo. With…Monterey Jack cheese. Can I also have a minestrone soup and two cookies?"

The person at the counter looked doubtful.

"Are you sure about that honey? That's a lot of food," she said.

"Oh, and maybe toss in a bag of chips," Angel added, oblivious to the lady's doubts.

I heard her mutter under her breath something that rhymed with "sit, this is gonna be a chucking long day."

The rest of our ordering process when something along the lines of that too. Nudge had a footlong veggie delite on whole wheat bread. Lets give it up for healthy eating!

She also had two cookies.

Nevermind.

Gazzy had a footlong BLT on parmesan oregano bread, with a yogurt.

Iggy had the Big Philly Cheesesteak footlong, with…extra meat. And a bag of chips.

Ella ordered a salad, much to our dismay. I honestly wondered how a few leaves could keep someone going for anytime longer than five minutes. You gotta have _carbs_, people!

Fang had a footlong Spicy Italian with some cookies. And chips. And apples.

As for me? I had a pizza sub (gotta love those off menu items) with three chocolate chip cookies and a bag of chips.

As we paid, I heard Nudge whisper to Angel, "This isn't enough. I think we should go get seconds."

"Agreed," Angel replied, unaware of the strange looks the sub-assembler (is that their title?), was giving her.

We all ate, but sure enough, a measly footlong wasn't enough for any of us bird-kids. There was just one thing that would keep us going…

"Hey, does anyone want to go get some ice cream?" I asked.

I was met with cheers from everyone.

* * *

><p>We went out for ice cream, then took off again. We were going to have to fly all afternoon to make it to this cabin thingy that Iggy and Gazzy discovered.<p>

I didn't know about any other members of the flock, but I was actually getting pretty tired. My wings were sore, my shoulders were sore, my eyes hurt from all the wind blowing in them.

I didn't stop and rest though. Nope, I was the leader, so there was no way in hell that I would be the first one to stop.

I looked around, and it seemed like everyone was lagging, especially Iggy, from carrying Ella.

"Hey, Ig, I'll take her for a while," Fang offered, seeing that Iggy's arms looked like noodles.

"Sure," he grunted, tossing Ella to Fang.

We flew for a few more hours, before finally making it to the cabin. Once we touched down, my knees almost gave way from not weight bearing for so long.

The younger ones all collapsed on the grass, moaning about sore muscles, and even Fang was grimacing as he folded his wings back in. The only one who didn't look tired anymore was Iggy, who was grinning like a lunatic as he slid down the rusty metal slide in the "badass" playground.

I sat down beside Fang. It could have been the perfect scene from a romantic movie, with all the sunset and all, but I doubted that anyone in those movies ever thought that they couldn't feel their wings, they were so tired.

Hell, they didn't even _have _wings.

I just sat, with my head on Fang's shoulder, until the sun was completely gone, and the stars and moon were all out. By then, I had was pretty well rested, so I had one of my famous Max-Epiphanies.

So, my flock and I were _really_ out of shape. A few years ago, we took on the Atlantic Ocean like it was a pond, but now, we couldn't even fly for _one day_ without getting so tired that we couldn't even eat dinner.

We were becoming useless couch potatoes.

This brought me to my epiphany. I needed to _get the flock back in shape_. This week couldn't be all relaxing, we needed to _work!_ Otherwise, what would happen if some non-expired Erasers happened to stumble our way? Or some leftover Flyboys?

Yeah!

Suddenly, I felt a sense of déjà vu. This was an _awful lot _like my Max Homeschooling Program, and look how that turned out? Everyone hated it. I needed to find a way to make everyone _want_ to work their asses off.

There was only one way to do that in this flock: Turn it into a competition

I made up my mind.

Starting tomorrow, we would have boot camp, Max Style.


	4. Rude Awakenings

**Hey! ****The first day of Max's Boot Camp is here!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. If I did, I wouldn't be wasting my time on fanfiction, I'd be finishing the last book! Hint, hint, JP.**

* * *

><p>"Get up everybody! Up and at 'em!" I hollered from the kitchen.<p>

It was 7:30 in the morning, way too early for any self-respecting teenager to be up, but I needed to get the kids ready for Max's Boot Camp. I was actually excited for them to hear about my new idea.

There was no movement from any of the kid's bedrooms. Aha! That was another sign! When we were on the run, the breaking of a _twig_ would have had them up like rockets. Now what? A nuclear explosion wouldn't wake these lazy bums up!

Time to go to plan B.

"I am a cruel, cruel person," I whispered to myself gleefully.

I took a big pitcher from a cupboard, filled it up about halfway with ice cubes, added a few cups of water, and tromped over to Fang's room. Fang was lying on his stomach, his wings partially extended. When he was asleep, his face wasn't in the stony mask that he composed during the day, it was…peaceful.

But then I noticed a puddle of drool on his pillow.

There goes that cliché.

I tiptoed (I didn't know why I bothered, since a herd of elephants wouldn't wake him up) around his bed, until I was right by his nightstand. I raised the pitcher of icy water up, and tipped it over so it spilled onto Fang's head.

"Argh!" Fang sputtered, sitting straight up in bed. "What the hell?"

"You were asleep," I said sweetly as I could, "I needed to wake you up."

"You could have done that _without_ the ice," Fang grumbled.

"Um, actually? I couldn't have. If you want to feel better about what I did to you though, wait till you hear what I've got planned for Iggy…"

Fang grinned once I finished explaining my plan. "You're evil," he said approvingly.

So together, we went back into the kitchen.

We got together some honey, flour and…a camera. Oh yes, we went there.

I also grabbed the pitcher on my way out.

Once in Iggy's room, Fang got to work squeezing the honey all over Iggy's face, neck and arms. Iggy didn't even flinch. Next, I got a cup of flour, and tossed it all over the honey-ed areas. Waist up, he looked like a snowman.

"Camera?" I hissed at Fang.

He tossed it to me, and I got to work, cataloguing our handiwork from every angle. We did a pretty good job, if I must say so myself, even if we did get about half of the honey and flour on the sheets.

After I had taken about fifty pictures, I dumped the ice water on him. What did you expect? The point was to wake him up, after all. The honey and flour was just a little bit of…extra fun.

"Gaah!" Iggy shrieked. That was surprising. Who knew that Iggy screamed like a girl? "What the…holy mother of…SHIT I'M COLD!"

Again, who knew that Iggy couldn't form coherent sentences when jolted awake?

"Iggy," Fang admonished, "There are young children in this house. Watch your language."

"Like hell I will!" He said, ice cubes falling off of his head. "Wait. Why am I all sticky?"

Always observant, that Iggy.

"And why is there FLOUR in my freaking HAIR?" he shouted again, touching the top of his head.

Fang and I were both trying to hold back our laughter.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO MAX?" Iggy yelled louder, his face getting red under all that honey.

"You know, Ig, it's kinda hard to take you seriously when you-you've got f-flour on yo-your nose!" I choked out, losing it.

By now, Iggy's girl screams had successfully woken up my whole flock. Note to self: High pitched noises work better than low pitched when rousing flock.

"Whoa, Iggy, what happened to you?" Nudge said, stumbling into Iggy's room.

Gazzy, Ella and Angel were just standing there, there mouths wide open in shock.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Iggy hissed at them, somehow sensing that they were staring. Yeah, we're not at our most polite in the morning.

"Funny you should mention that…" Fang said, smirking.

Iggy's eyes narrowed. "You didn't," he said disbelievingly.

"Oh yes, we did," I said, enjoying this a bit too much.

"You're gonna…get…it!" He shouted, getting out of bed and lunging for Fang.

I just laughed as Fang easily dodged out of the way. He threw the camera at me, and I caught it, sprinting out of the room. Everyone else was cheering, and I heard Gazzy whisper to Angel,

"This is way better than how Max usually wakes us up."

If only they knew.

So Fang and I were throwing the camera back and forth as we ran out of the house.

The rest of the flock plus Ella were following us, so when we dashed outside, they did too. Once outside, I quickly did a running take off to fly away from Iggy.

"I'm blind, you know!" He called up to me, "Don't you think that this is all just, oh I don't know, a _little bit_ unfair?"

"Maybe," I replied, "but it's so. Damn. Funny!"

I saw that Iggy had his wings out too, and was about to come after me, when I heard,

"What is that buzzing noise?"

And,

"ZOMG! RUN!"

And,

"Ahhhh!"

And,

"Holy shit, OW!"

I put all the pieces together, and almost forgot to flap as I realized that all of the honey Fang and I had poured on Iggy was attracting…bees.

"Ah, crap," I muttered, as I dive bombed back to the cottage to save Iggy from being stung again.

So because of _that_ little delay, it was about 11:00 when I finally got the flock together to discuss my boot camp idea.

"Listen up everybody!" I said, clapping my hands together.

"Oh God, what is it this time?" I heard Iggy mutter to Fang.

"I heard that," I informed him, glaring. "And for that, you're going to drop down and give me fifty."

"Excuse me?" Iggy asked incredulously.

"You heard me," I replied, smirking. "Do fifty pushups for that smart ass comment."

"What is this, the Marines or something?" Ella asked uncertainly, "I mean, you've got to be used to those comments by now. Isn't doing pushups for a _comment_ a bit overboard?"

"Not at all!" I said brightly. "Welcome to Max's Boot Camp, everybody! We have gotten seriously out of shape ever since we destroyed Itex. What if there's some Erasers who haven't gotten the 'you're expired' memo? What if there's some leftover whitecoats? How are we supposed to defend ourselves?"

"We're in shape!"

"Leftover whitecoats? Are you out of your mind?"

"This is supposed to be a _vacation!_"

"Wow, way to be positive guys!" I said, seriously annoyed, "What's so bad about being active? We _are_ on vacation, all I'm changing about it is that we aren't going to be sitting on our asses all day. Plus, you never know about the leftover whitecoats. Some might have continued their work, even though we destroyed their headquarters."

"I agree with Max," Fang said unexpectedly, "We haven't had to fight for years. We were tired after flying for _one day! _Doesn't the thought of not being able to defend yourself freak you out just a _little bit?_"

"Thank you, Fang," I said. "Now for the second part of boot camp. You're playing for points. You fly a 3 minute mile, you get a point. You do 75 chin ups, you get a point, etcetera, etcetera. Plus, we'll be in pairs. The pair that gets the most points wins a chore-free month. This includes dishes, making your bed, laundry and bathrooms. Plus, they get to choose who they want to take over their chores."

Now the flock was looking a bit more on board with the idea. They were already trash talking each other! _There's my flock,_ I thought to myself affectionately. Just because I thought things were going well, I decided to add another aspect to the contest.

"Also, whoever you choose to take over your chores will have to obey your every word for…a week. Got it?"

"Yeah!" Gazzy said, cheering. "Y'all are going _down!_"

"Listen Gazzy," Nudge started, "First of all, don't say 'y'all'. You don't have a southern accent. You aren't a cowboy, no matter how much you want to be. Second of all, I am _so_ not losing this. I'm going to be kissing my chores goodbye next week!"

"Hey! Why so confident, Nudge?" Angel protested, "I may be younger than all of you guys, but I can _by far_ do the most push ups," she finished, looking smugly at Iggy, who had collapsed after 37.

"What are the partners?" Iggy asked.

"Me and you, Nudge and Angel, Max and Fang." Gazzy said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "_Duh_".

"Um, actually? No." I said, a bit peeved that Gazzy had actually guessed my pairings. The only way to shut him up? Change them. "It'll be you and Iggy, Angel with me and Nudge with Fang."

"Oh…" Gazzy said, at a loss for words, "Okay then."

"Yeah, Max!" Angel cheered, "We're so going to win this!"

"Okay everybody, first, we will be doing chin ups. Head to the monkey bars!"

As my flock ran off, I turned to Ella. She looked pretty dejected. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

"To start? My DNA," she said, "I feel totally left out. You are all doing flying stuff, and a boot camp that I'm not even a _part of_, and I feel like I'm just getting in everybody's way."

I mentally facepalmed myself. That's me, Ms. Oh-so-observant about other people's feelings.

"That's okay Ella," I started, trying to find something suitable to say. What could I say though? Hey, let's take you to get some wings grafted onto your back! Yay!

Um, not.

"I have an idea!" I said, grateful for the fact that I'd found Ella something to do. "You're going to be the scorekeeper. You keep track of how many points everyone has, so no one cheats. You're pretty neutral, so no one will accuse _you_ of cheating either," I said, smiling. "Well, except if Iggy and Gazzy win. Then, it'll be obvious that you gave Iggy extra points."

"Shut up!" Ella said, smacking the back of my head.

"Sure, sure," I said, happy that I'd solved _that_ problem. "Let's head over to the monkey bars."

"56…57…58…59…Keep going, Gazzy! 60…61…62…oh, shit," Iggy swore, kicking the ground.

So after a long, valiant effort, Gazzy managed to do 62 chin ups.

"No points!" Ella called out.

"Fang, your turn," I said.

Fang went up to the monkey bars and jumped up, starting his chin ups.

"1…2…3…" Nudge counted, jumping up and down, "15…16…17…" Fang didn't even look strained. "34…35…36…" Still as cool as a breeze. "60…61…62…You passed Gazzy! 63…64…" He wasn't even breathing hard! What was up with him? "83…84…85…" Okay, he seemed to be slowing down now. "98, 99, 100!" He finally dropped down. Thank God, I was getting worried about the kid.

"One point for Nudge and Fang!" Ella called out.

"Whoa, Fang, that was amazing!" I said, still not believing that he'd done _100 freaking chin ups_.

"I sometimes work out during spare periods," he said modestly, shrugging.

"Ooookay…anyways. Good job!" I said, realizing that I should have guessed that he worked out earlier. I mean, abs like that do not exist in nature, people!

…Not that I'm staring at Fang's abs or anything.

In the end, I got 76, Iggy got 72, Angel got 61 and Nudge got 65. So, Fang got a point, and I got a point.

Iggy and Gazzy were kind of disappointed, but their competitive edge seemed to have been sharpened because of the loss.

"Fang?" I said.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"I gotta feeling that-"

"Tonight's gonna be a good night?"

"No, and I'm going to ignore the fact that you shamelessly referenced the Black Eyed Peas in a regular conversation."

"Okay."

"No, I _have a _feeling that this boot camp/contest is going to be good for the flock. They seem to enjoy it. I think that this was a good idea."

"Of course it was a good idea. You came up with it."

"Thanks Fang."

* * *

><p><strong>Please review! I'm not sure why I only have one review on this story so far! If it's because this story sucks, tell me! If you actually like it, but are too lazy to review, just nudge your damn mouse over a few inches and click that pretty button! Psst…you turn the review button on.<strong>


	5. The Ultimate PMS

**Hey guys! Here's chapter 5! This is the PMS chapter, which is just regular PMS, but…amplified.**

**Remember, reviews will make this story better for you! I really pay attention to reviews, so they actually make a difference!**

**Also, many thanks to my AMAZING beta, Sierra156!**

**Disclaimer Haiku:**

**I wish that I owned,**

**Maximum Ride but sadly,**

**James Patterson does.**

* * *

><p>I woke up on Day 2 of Max's Boot Camp feeling like crap. I started the day off by stomping down to the kitchen… when, HORROR!<p>

Iggy was making omelets for breakfast. Why would he make omelets for breakfast? Couldn't he see that I wanted bananas this morning?

In fact, why was he making breakfast at all? To show that men are superior to women? Did he not think that my gender was capable of making breakfast?

Sexist pig.

"Why the hell are you making eggs?" I growled.

"Um… because everyone wanted eggs this morning?" Iggy ended his statement as a question, looking very confused.

To hell with that!

"Why did everyone decide that they wanted eggs without me?" I demanded.

"Uh, we didn't decide. Fang just said that he wanted omelets. He was hungry."

"And Fang is somehow everybody? And why is Fang calling the shots around here? Is it because he's a guy? Do you think that men are better than women? Huh?"

"Actually-" Iggy started.

"Actually nothing!" I interrupted. Didn't he know that I asked a rhetorical question? "I am telling you right now, you sexist pig, that I will not be having eggs. In fact, I will not be having anything touched by dirty man hands. I will be having a banana."

I turned to Fang.

"And you can screw it for deciding to have eggs without me!"

I have officially decided that men are a waste of space.

* * *

><p><strong>Iggy's POV (Ooo…intrigue!):<strong>

What was Max's issue this morning? What was up with the big blow up over eggs? Did she not like eggy things anymore?

Hmm…Eggy. I like that word. I like eggy things. That's weird. Most guy's favorite word is bacon, or sex, but mine is Eggy. Is that even a real word? Whatever.

Ah… Eggy.

Anyways, why was Max so pissed off this morning? Also, why didn't Fang do anything about it? He was dating her, for crying out loud! He should have realized that my safety was extremely at risk.

Max + Anger = Bad day for Iggy.

_She probably found bomb M,_ I realized with a shudder. That's why Fang didn't seem concerned for my safety. He knew Max's anger had nothing to do with him.

…Then I shot up in my chair, realizing that she may have found bomb M.

"GAZZY!" I roared, running over to his room.

"What?" He asked.

"Listen, I think Max found Bomb M. She was acting really pissed off at me this morning."

Gazzy gasped. "Are you serious?" he asked, sounding like he really wanted me to be not serious. "You think she found Bomb… M?"

"Affirmative," I stated. "Why else would she be so angry at me? She almost too my head off just for making eggs this morning. Something's up, I tell you."

"I'm frowning Iggy," Gazzy said.

"Okay," I replied. Sometimes this whole blind thing was really a bother.

"Anyways," Gazzy started, "I'm frowning because something doesn't seem right in this picture. I mean, this is Max we're talking about. If she found Bomb M, she'd probably confront us head on. She wouldn't just be mad, but not let us know why."

I paused, thinking. "You have a point," I admitted. "But what if she actually did find Bomb M? We'd be screwed. We have to make sure."

"Okay," Gazzy said, "Just ask her. If she found Bomb M, asking her if she did wouldn't make much of a difference. If she didn't find Bomb M, just pretend that it was a birthday present for her, or something."

Heh, heh. Bomb M… a birthday present… That's just laughable.

"Again, you have a point Gazzy," I said, "I just have to ask Max if she's found Bomb M or not. I've got nothing to lose. I'll be right back."

"Good luck," Gazzy called after me, "You'll need it."

Luck or not, I headed over to Max's room, where I suspected she went to after blowing up at me.

"Max?" I asked, checking if she was there or not.

No answer. I tried again, louder.

"Max?"

I was rewarded with a loud, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM IGGY?"

Holy crap, the girl has a loud voice. "I just wanted to ask you-"

"DON'T ASK ME ANYTHING! GET OUT THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS TO NEXT WEEK!"

Um, okay. I started walking out.

"The door's the other way, Iggy," She said.

Oops. I turned around, and walked out. Right when I reached the door, I turned around again.

"Have you found Bomb M?" I asked, praying that she wouldn't yell at me again.

"No…" she said, sounding confused, but thankfully, not mad anymore. "What's Bomb M?"

Thank God.

"Okay, thanks Max! Bye!" I said, giddy with relief.

"WAIT!" She boomed.

I skidded to a stop.

"What's Bomb M? You never answered my question."

I gulped. What was it that Gazzy told me to say…oh, yeah, right.

"Bomb M is… a birthday present that Gazzy and I made for you," I said, following the bluff that Gazzy told me to say.

"Oh," Max said, seeming pleased. I turned back around, heading back to my unfinished breakfast.

"WAIT!" Max boomed again, just as I was sitting down.

I sighed. What was it this time? The mood swings…I just couldn't keep up.

"Why would you call your bomb Bomb M? Does M stand for Men or something? Are you being your regular sexist self?"

My God, she was really taking it too far this time.

"Uh, no actually," I said testily. "M stands for Max. Not everything I say or do is meant to be sexist."

"Oh, well thanks for the early birthday present notice Iggy!" She said, pulling me into a hug.

Again with the mood swings thing. But my main question still wasn't answered.

"So why were you so pissed off this morning?" I asked.

"Oh, that," Max said. "That was nothing."

"Okay then," I said, "I'm just going to go eat my eggy eggs now. Did you want me to grab you a banana?"

"No, you think I can't walk or something? You trying to be all manly on me? No, I'll get the banana myself."

Oh, crap, she was mad again.

She stomped back downstairs, and I trailed after her, still looking to finish my eggy breakfast.

She grabbed a banana, and took two Advil.

"Max? Are you sick?" I asked, hearing the rattling of pills in a bottle. If she had a cold or something, that would explain the whole moody business.

"Huh?" She said, "Oh, no, I'm not sick. And remember, be out on the front yard in fifteen minutes for the flying part of boot camp!"

Oookay then. I finished the omelet, and headed back upstairs, feeling very confused.

I decided to go up to Fang's room. It was his girlfriend who was acting weird, so maybe he knew what was going on.

"Yo, Fang?" I asked.

"Yeah?" He said.

"Why is Max acting so strange today? I mean, first, she acts all mad at me because I made eggs for breakfast, then she's got her 'sexist pig' radar on hyper alert, and she's having all these mood swings. I thought that she'd found Bomb M, but she says she doesn't know what Bomb M is. Plus, she's got some kind of craving for bananas and she took two Advil. I think she's got a cold, but she says she doesn't."

Fang cracked a smile.

"What's so funny?" I asked, feeling more confused than ever.

"You seriously don't know why Max is acting so weird?"

"Um, no, that's why I'm here," I said, mildly annoyed.

Fang was almost smiling now. Fang! Smiling!

"Max is… PMS-ing," he said, grinning.

"Wha… oh." I said, realization sinking in. "That would explain it."

"Yup," Fang said, "Every month, Max turns into a banana craving, sexist pig hating monster. It's actually kind of cute. And by the way, that wasn't Advil. It was Midol."

"Uh, okay, too much information," I said.

"You just need to stay out of a PMS-ing girl's way. Be chivalrous, but not overly chivalrous, or else you turn into a 'sexist pig', to use Max's choice of words. Never kiss a PMS-ing girl, she'll knee you where the sun doesn't shine."

"Um, I don't need to know this," I stammered. This was actually really awkward.

"Of course you do," Fang said, "you're almost with Ella. When you two do get together, you're going to have to master the art of dealing with girls when their time of the month comes."

"I'm not with Ella!" I protested.

"You just keep on telling yourself that," Fang said.

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN HERE!" We heard Max holler. "FANG AND IGGY, YOU'RE LATE!"

Fang turned to me, and I imagined that he was probably smirking.

"We'd better go," I said, smiling.

Why was I smiling? Fang said that I was "almost with Ella".

"Yes!" I shouted, doing a little fist pump.

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV:<strong>

I hate periods. They are the bane of my existence. The cramps, the mood swings, just EVERYTHING! Why, why, why did girls have to get them? All guys got was the ability to pee standing up.

Life's a bitch.

Whatever. I had to get on with my day. Which, included boot camp!

If there's one thing that makes me feel better when I'm getting my gift from Mother Nature, it's flying.

I called everyone down, and explained the contest.

"So, everyone is going to fly from here to that tree over there. That's about a mile, I checked. Ella is standing by the tree, timing you. You fly it in under 3 minutes, you get a point. The fastest time wins an extra point. Get it? Got it? Good."

I heard Nudge cheer. She was probably the fastest flier out of all of us, except for me when I went all super speed.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm not going to be going all fast for this one," I added. Just to make things fair.

Angel was up first. She did a running take off, and shot off like a rocket.

"Go Angel!" I cheered for her.

When she reached the tree, I gave Nudge well, a nudge, and told her to go.

She shot off, and was at the tree in less than two minutes.

Gazzy, Iggy and Fang all went, and it seemed like everyone was meeting the three-minute challenge.

When it was my turn, I took off, but about halfway there, I got the most horrible set of cramps. I almost doubled over. I could hear Angel shrieking for me to go faster, so when the pain subsided a little bit, I kept going. My flying was sloppy though, because I was all hunched over, and I was a bit dizzy.

After what seemed like ages, I reached the tree, and Ella gave me my time.

5 minutes and 43 seconds.

5 minutes and 43 seconds.

5 FREAKING MINUTES AND 43 SECONDS!

Well, this was embarrassing.

I was the oldest, the leader, the one who actually had the power to fly fast, and I got the worst time out of anyone by almost two minutes.

My flock was looking at me, and Angel asked,

"Why were you so slow Max?"

Damn mood swings. I was now feeling dejected, like I was going to cry.

"I'm just not feeling so well," I muttered, and flew off, wobbling.

* * *

><p><strong>Fang's POV (I'm just switchin' it up this chappie!):<strong>

I sighed. From the looks of it, Max got cramps in the middle of her flight, got a bad time and was feeling badly about it. All of the younger ones in the flock (Angel, Nudge, Gazzy) didn't know what was wrong, by I had clued Iggy in this morning, and Ella was a girl too, so she got it.

"I should go after her," Ella murmured to me. "You tell the others that she just wasn't feeling too well.

"Okay," I whispered back, "I'll take you."

I flew off, and dropped Ella off at the cottage where Max had flown back to.

I flew back to the tree, where Nudge, Angel and Gazzy were looking at me questioningly.

"Uh, guys?" I started, "Max isn't feeling so well today, so we're going to take a break."

"What's wrong with Max?" Gazzy asked.

"Is she really sick?" Angel said, her face worried.

"Is Max going to die?" Nudge asked, her voice panicked.

Crap. Now I'd worried them.

"No, she's not really sick, no she's not going to die, yes, she's going to be okay. It's just… a week long thing."

I sighed. A very long week long thing.

* * *

><p><strong>Ella's POV (First time!):<strong>

I went into the cabin, in hopes that I would be able to calm Max down from her PMS induced despair. I knocked on her door. "Max? Can I come in?" I asked.

I heard a heavy thump against the door. I assumed that she'd thrown a shoe at it.

"Go away," she said, her voice muffled.

"Max, let your dear sister in," I demanded. "I have chocolate…"

That did it. The door flew open.

"Where's the chocolate?" She asked in a frenzied voice.

"Let me in your room and I'll tell you," I said. She stepped aside, and allowed me into her room.

I closed the door and gave her a Mars Bar. She devoured it.

"You have any more?" She asked, looking like a shark that'd smelled blood.

"Yup," I said, handing her another piece. She ate this one just as fast.

"Do you have another one?" She asked.

"No, sorry," I said. "Now listen, I wanted to talk-"

"I must get my chocolate," Max interrupted, hopping off the bed and heading to the kitchen, forgetting all about me.

Well, that went nowhere.

**Max and Angel: 2 points Fang and Nudge: 3 points Gazzy and Iggy: 2 points**

**R&R if you can empathize with Max's PMS!**


	6. Aw, Fnick

**Hey! This chappie is dedicated to my super amazing, utterly bacontastic beta, Sierra156! She is absolutely amazing. Everyone needs to go check out her stories!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

><p>So after my quite humiliating finish during our flying race thing, I needed to get back on track. I was no longer a PMS-y monster, so everything was fine. With my period, the first day was the worst. After that, everything was a breeze. I just felt sort of bad for all the snapping at people I'd done yesterday and all, but honestly? Men should know better than to even <em>attempt<em> to deal with girls when it's their time of the month. **(A/N: Truth! We'll just bite your heads off.)**

Even though my last experience with flying hadn't been exactly…pleasant, flying was still amazing, so I wanted to do more of it today. I had the perfect plan:

Endurance.

I mean, yesterday was all about speed, but honestly? Endurance was way more important, especially if we were going to have to fly longer distances, say…to Canada. Hell, if the trip over to this cabin was any indication, a few hundred miles was a long distance.

So for today, we would be flying constantly for the whole day, camp at wherever we would end up, and the next day, fly back.

This way I figured that it could be a bit of an outing for the kids as well.

"Get downstairs everybody!" I called.

There was no response. I looked over at Ella, who winked at me.

"The person who can get down here the fastest gets a point!" she tried.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of excitement as pounding feet came down the stairs. Well, now I know who to turn to when I need the flock to listen.

"I was first!" Angel squealed.

"No way," Gazzy protested, "I was!"

"Are you kidding?" Nudge asked incredulously, "I had to wait, like, _ages_ at the bottom of the stairs for you!"

"Uh, everyone?" Iggy cut in, "I'm pretty sure _I _was first. I could hear all of your footsteps miles behind me."

"I think everyone should just shut up," I offered. "Ella decides who came in first. Ella?"

Ella's eyes swept over every member of the flock, and sighed, drawing the moment out.

"First, I'd like to say how great of an effort you guys all made, and that no matter who wins or loses, your all winners because you tried," she said.

"Get on with it!" Nudge said impatiently.

"And this is a _really hard_ decision to make-" Ella carried on.

"Cut the crap and tell us who won, already!" Gazzy interrupted.

"And everyone deserves to win…" Ella kept going, hamming it up. Everyone else looked murderous. "But I think Iggy came in a little bit before everyone else."

"WHAT?" every other member of my flock blurted out incredulously.

"That's not fair!" Nudge said, "Ella's just saying that because she has the hots for Iggy!"

"What?" Iggy said, his face turning red.

"What?" Ella said, _her _face turning red.

"Ella doesn't-"

"Well, actually, I-"

"…Not true…"

"I actually-"

"What?"

"I just sorta…"

"You sorta…"

"Maybe just a little bit…"

"Really?"

"Uh, huh,"

"…Me too,"

"OKAY THAT'S QUITE ENOUGH OF THAT!" I interrupted. I _so_ did not need to hear any hormonal rambling today. "Iggy won, he gets a point for his team. End of story." Sometimes you just need to take control. "That's not what I called you guys over for, though. I need to announce the next phase of Boot Camp."

I paused for suspense.

"We're going to be doing flying endurance!" I announced happily.

I didn't exactly get an enthusiastic response. I should be used to that by now, though.

"Endurance? Ugh."

"I don't waaaant toooooo."

"Please. I'm only sixteen. I don't need a heart attack today."

"Shut up, all of you lazy, lazy birdkids!" I said, "I am sick of your negative attitudes! Besides," I added, "You haven't heard the best part of my plan yet."

Fang raised one eyebrow. He looked amused. Sometimes, I wonder if the whitecoats did something funky to him to make him be able to put up with me and my antics.

Then I remember that they did that to Dylan. Created just for me. DNA meant to be perfectly compatible to mine.

I shook those thoughts out of my head. I did _not _still have feelings for Dylan. The last time I saw him, we were just friends. Nothing more.

"Max?" I snapped out of my reverie when I noticed Nudge saying my name over and over again, waving a hand in front of my face.

"What?" I asked.

"You were kinda zoned out," Fang said, looking a bit concerned.

"Oh, no," I said, scrambling to think of something to say. Fang couldn't know that I was still worried about Dylan, that I was still _confused_ about my _feelings _for Dylan. "I was, uh, just planning the second part of the endurance thing." I said finally.

"What's the plan?" Gazzy asked, still not totally on board with the endurance training.

"We're going to turn this into a trip," I said, "We'll fly all day today, see where we get, camp tonight, and fly all day tomorrow to come back home."

"Will this type of camping involve eating desert rats?" Nudge asked with a shudder, "Because I remember when we had to eat rats, and when we watched the hawks eat their food, and it was just so gross, so I'm a vegetarian now, but I don't want to _starve_, so-"

"That's okay!" Ella said, gently cutting Nudge off. Of all of us, she's got the most patience with the Nudge Channel. "I've made sandwiches-no sexist jokes Iggy-and picked up some juice boxes. Carrying the extra food and stuff will just make the flying harder, so it'll test your endurance more.

The other kids still didn't look convinced.

"C'mon guys!" I said, "Don't you want to have the freedom of flying for as long as you want again? Don't you hate it when you're always limited because you get _tired?_ Don't you _sort of_ miss the life we had before? The feeling that no one could control us? The feeling that we were unstoppable? Now you want to be stopped just because you have crappy endurance?"

Yeah, I ask a lot of rhetorical questions.

They worked though, and the flock looked thoughtful.

"It _would_ be nice to fly all day," Angel admitted, "even if it'll probably be so tiring, my wings'll feel like they're gonna drop off."

"And we haven't gone camping in a while," Iggy added, "staying in houses all the time is making me feel kinda claustrophobic."

Fang didn't say anything (surprise, surprise!), but he nodded slightly to show that he was on board too.

"As long as we don't have to eat rats, I think it's a pretty good idea," Nudge said slowly, surprising us all when she didn't head off on a tangent about _why_ she thought it was a good idea, and how gross rats were.

"What about points?" Gazzy asked shrewdly, "How does Ella decide who wins?"

I smirked, "That's for me to know and you to find out," I said.

Hah! I've always wanted to say that.

" Then… if everyone else is in, I guess I am too," Gazzy said reluctantly.

"Great!" I said excitedly, "You guys are going to have a great time!"

"Wait a second," Iggy said, "What about Ella?"

…Oh, yeah. Ella couldn't fly with us, so she would have to stay at the cottage alone for two days, unless we carried her.

"I'll just…stay here, I guess," Ella said, sounding disappointed. I could tell that she felt like she felt like a burden on the flock.

"Nonsense!" I said briskly, determined to include Ella in everything we did, "We'll take Ella with us. We're going to fly for twelve hours, so each of us will carry Ella for two hours."

If you're wondering why Angel, Gazzy and Nudge were doing the same things as Iggy, Fang and I, it's because they were physically up to par with us. Some sort of festive gene that the whitecoats dashed in. We reached our full physical potential when we turned about 8 years old. So far, we thought that we just stayed like that indefinitely.

Weird, I know.

Anyways, the plan was set: We would fly for twelve hours, each member of the flock doing two hour shifts carrying Ella.

I knew that Ella still felt bad though, like she was always getting in our way. That was _so_ not true though, we all loved her (some more that others, *cough, cough* Iggy), and considered her an honorary member of the flock.

"Ella," I ordered, "Go grab the basket with the food. You'll have to carry it," I knew that making her do something would make her feel more like part of the flock.

When she came back, lugging the humungous cooler, I set Angel to the task of being the first one to carry her.

"Okay guys," I said, "U and A!"

* * *

><p><strong>Ella's POV (I really want to explore her character more):<strong>

I felt like such a downer. I knew it was irrational, but I felt left out. I mean, Max's flock all had wings, they'd lived their whole lives together, gone through _so much_ together, and I was just this one girl who happened to be Max's biological sister.

I mean, even though Max tried to include me all the time, it was still different. _Angel_, a girl seven years younger than me was _carrying_ me, because I couldn't fly myself.

Stupid pride, but it was true.

Sorry about that. You probably aren't in the mood to join in on my pity party, so I'll try to be more positive.

Hmmm….positive…positive…positive…

IGGY!

Okay, _that's_ a positive topic. I'm not usually one to gush on and on about crushes, but Iggy is just…different. The way I _feel_ about him is different. Like I can't be too far away from him at any given time. Like my every move is influenced by his. And…wait for the corniness…

Like he completed my world.

Ugh, that sounded cheesy, even in my head.

Getting back to my current situation: Angel was about to toss me over to Gazzy. I had to say, flying (well, not really, but you get the idea) felt absolutely _amazing_. I couldn't get over the feeling of the wind rushing in my ears, the adrenaline. I could see everything down below, and the view was stunning. The air was crisper, cleaner up here, and my whole body felt lighter. I felt truly at home in the sky.

You couldn't carry on much of a conversation, we were flying too fast, and the wind made it impossible to hear what anyone else was saying. Well, it made it impossible for _me_ to hear what everyone else was saying. Judging by how the other's lips were always moving, _they_ could hear each other perfectly fine.

The thought made me feel all left out all over again.

* * *

><p><strong>Iggy's POV:<strong>

After Gazzy's shift with Ella, we landed to each eat lunch. Ella had packed sandwiches, and they were delicious.

So she was smart, nice, good at making sandwiches (no, that wasn't me being as "sexist pig". I was just stating a fact), not to mention pretty as hell.

It wasn't just that though. I felt…a sort of connection to her.

Like I'd known her all my life, instead of just meeting her two years ago. It was really weird.

Nothing was awkward between us, though. I was pretty sure that she knew I was madly in love with her, and from what Fang told me, she liked me too.

Holy Fnick. Did I just say I was in love with Ella? Well, from the limited knowledge I have about love, it seemed like it. I wanted to spend all my time with her, I felt really comfortable around her and my world just seemed to…gravitate around her.

I wasn't too sure about Ella liking me in _that way_, though. Fang seemed pretty sure that she did, and Fang's usually pretty good with people of the female persuasion. But…me? Of all the guys in the world to choose from, why would she like _me_, the blind, mutant birdkid?

But still…it seemed like she did like me. And I decided to trust Fang.

So, we liked each other. Well, I _loved_ her, but that was beside the point at the moment. So we liked each other. And yet, things were comfortable between us. Neither of us seemed to feel any pressure to make a move, so things were good.

I wanted to leave it that way, but if _I_ never made a move, how would I know how Ella felt about me?

I decided to stop thinking about Ella. It was giving me a headache.

* * *

><p>We flew all day, and by the time Max finished her last shift with Ella, we landed.<p>

Everyone was absolutely pooped. I was _so_ looking forward to eating dinner, chilling around and resting my wings. I didn't think I could move them anymore.

"So…tired…" I moaned.

"Same," Fang agreed.

"I'm gonna feel this in the morning," Nudge grumbled, closing her wings stiffly.

"So are we," Angel and Gazzy said in unison.

Max looked pretty tired too, but she wasn't complaining. In fact, she looked positively tickled.

Oh God, did I just say "positively tickled"? I'm an insult to my gender.

Anyways, Max, being Max didn't look at all like she was about to drop dead. I decided to not worry about her though, and just concentrate on how Ella was rubbing my back, between my wings and how good it felt…

"EVERYBODY ON THEIR FEET!" Max suddenly shrieked gleefully.

"What?" Everyone else asked in tandem.

"Are you guys seriously that slow?" She asked, grinning. "Remember the points?"

Oh, yeah. I didn't like where this was going…

"Here's how you're going to earn points," Max said, rubbing her hands together like a crazed torturer, "You're going to do push ups."

Well, that went down like a ton of bricks.

"Seriously?" Nudge asked.

"You're kidding," Fang said.

"But we're so _tired_," Gazzy complained.

"I don't even think I can _move_," Angel whined uncharacteristically.

"That's the point!" Max said, clapping. This was sort of creepy. "You're tired. That makes the pushups even harder. This is the _true_ test of endurance. And you're _all_ gonna do it, because remember, there's a month of chores on the line, plus a personal slave."

Everyone groaned, but got up to their feet.

Aw, Fnick. From the looks of it, I wouldn't be able to move in the morning.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review! They seriously make my day!<strong>


	7. Those Sexy, Sexy Wings

**Hey! Thanks for all the reviews, guys!**

**Random bit of Wisdom: The worst time to get a heart attack is during a game of charades.**

**Note : RBW's are taken from the site amirite (.) net. Go check it out! Just take away the brackets from the link.**

**Many thanks to Sierra156 for beta-ing this chappie!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, or amirite (.) net.**

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV:<strong>

My arms were burning. _C'mon_, I thought to myself, _just five more._

I was doing push ups, the "true test of endurance" I'd decided to do. Now, though, in the midst of doing them, I had no idea what I was thinking. This was hell.

I was at 55, and I'd decided earlier that 60 push-ups would result in getting a point.

_56…_

_57…_

_58… oh crap, my arms are going to fall off…_

_59… I can do this…one more…_

_6…now just get back up…0!_

At this point, I can shamelessly say that I collapsed. My arms felt like they were noodles. Why, why, why did I have to put myself through that torture?

"Max gets one point for her team," Ella announced.

...Oh, yeah, that's why.

"Good job, Max!" I heard Angel cheer to me. She was, true to her word, amazing at push ups. I have no idea where she got it from. She had done 75 easily, and struggled her way to 92. I, on the other hand, had done about 40 easily, and struggled my way to 60. It would have been embarrassing to be so outdone by an eight-year-old, but I was used to it.

I mean, because she was, physically, equal to me, why _shouldn't_ she be better than me in some aspects?

* * *

><p>So, after a while, Angel and I both got points, Iggy did, Gazzy and Nudge didn't, and Fang did.<p>

Since we'd all eaten dinner while waiting for the others to finish their push ups, we were all pretty much ready to go to sleep.

"Okay everyone, time for bed," I announced. For once, they obliged easily. They were all really tired.

We all sleepily tapped our fists together, and snuggled into the grass. Well, we brought Ella a sleeping bag. She wouldn't be accustomed to roughing it just yet, and it had been a long day.

Before long, everyone was out like a light. I couldn't sleep though, for some reason. Too many thoughts were racing around in my head. Boot Camp, Ella's feeling left out… Dylan.

What was wrong with me? Dylan had been gone for almost two years now, without any explanation of where he was, how long he'd be, or even if he was freaking _alive!_ Why wasn't I angry with him?

When Fang left, I was almost seeing red with my rage. Well, after I got over the heartbreak, that is. With Dylan, I wasn't mad at him. I was just really worried. I was pretty sure he wasn't dead, though. I would have felt it, somehow, if he were.

What? That wasn't meant to be corny. Really. Our DNA was _made_ for each other, probably with some sort of genetic tether keeping us together. Technically, we were two halves of a whole. If one didn't exist anymore, I'm pretty sure the other would know about it.

Dear God, that sounded like the stuff crappy romantic movies are made of. But I couldn't help it. In the movies, people only _think_ that they were made for each other, that the other is their "perfect other half" or whatever. It's not my fault the whitecoats made that real for me.

I didn't think Dylan and I were like that though. Technically, we were perfect for each other, but it just seemed like we were more perfect as friends.

Damn, I just couldn't make up my mind about that boy.

"Hey." Fang's voice startled me out of my thinking.

"Hey," I whispered back.

"I couldn't sleep," Fang said. "you?"

"I couldn't sleep either," I said, not eager to enlighten Fang on _why _exactly I couldn't sleep. Don't get me wrong; we've got a very honest relationship. But… Fang's always had this thing against Dylan. Don't want to be too cocky or anything, but I think it's jealousy.

"I have an idea," Fang said quietly, standing up, careful to not step on any sleeping birdkids. "Come with me,"

He started walking away from where we made camp.

I followed him, not really sure where this was going, exactly.

"Fang?" I asked, "Where are we going?"

He didn't respond, but instead unfurled his gigantic wings and leapt up into the sky. I stared after him for a moment. **(A/N: No, I'm not going to insert a lengthy description of how beautiful Fang's wings are, how dark, strong and powerful they look, flying through the night sky. Not because it's a cliché, but because if I did, I wouldn't have time to write, I'd be spending my time cleaning the drool off my desk.) **Where was this going?

Whatever.

I followed him, and put on a burst of speed to catch up. We flew on in the night. I had no idea what he had in mind, but I contented myself with feeling the wind in my wings, and seeing the stars above me. Everything was still, and we didn't talk. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was just…comfortable. Like we didn't need words to communicate what we were thinking.

"It's really nice at night," Fang commented. See? Totally on the same wavelength.

"Yeah…" I said, "It'd be better if you told me where we were going, though."

Fang grinned mischievously. "It's a secret," he said.

I smiled in the darkness with him. I loved when Fang put his guard down when he was with me, and I could see every emotion that flashed through his eyes.

We flew on for a while longer, until Fang announced that we were, apparently, where he wanted to go.

Once we landed, I could see where we were. We were on top of a gigantic mesa, overlooking the Arizona desert. The moonlight washed out all the colors of the desert, and it seemed like everything was in black and white. It wasn't dark, though. The sky was lit up with a million tiny pinpoints of light: stars.

"It's beautiful," I said to Fang, who was lying down on the rock, looking over at me. "How did you find a place like this?"

He smirked. "When you were… being hormonal the day we were doing speed flying, the flock had some extra time on their hands to go exploring."

"Oh," I said, glad of the darkness to hide my blush.

"So you like it?" he asked.

"I love it," I replied, turning my head to give him a quick peck on the lips.

The second my lips touched his, though; he took the back of my head, and angled it to deepen the kiss.

My breath caught in my throat, and I began to kiss him back.

His hands left my head, and slid around my back, pulling me closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, our lips moving in perfect synchronization.

His tongue traced my bottom lip, and when he felt me shiver, he smiled against my lips.

I untangled my arms from his neck,

We broke apart after several moments, breathing raggedly.

"We couldn't sleep," Fang whispered, the tips of his wings silver in the moonlight, "so I thought maybe some alone time would help. Did it?"

"Uh, no," I said, "If anything, you've made me more awake. Who could sleep after being kissed like that?"

"Oh…" Fang said, looking totally _not _sorry for making me not be able to fall asleep for the next hour, "oops."

* * *

><p><strong>Max and Angel: 5 points, Iggy and Gazzy: 4 points, Fang and Nudge: 4 points<strong>

**R&R? Please? For that last Fax kiss?**


	8. Oh Crap

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, and for the shortness of this chappie! Here's the thing: School's started. It's really busy, which means less time for me to write! I'll try my best though, but I can't be updating as frequently as I did before. Sorry! **

**Also: Many thanks to Yesmeen, who, upon hearing how much I liked reviews, promptly decided to review _every single chapter. _That girl (or guy) deserves some serious awesome points!  
><strong>

**Don't worry though. I'll never abandon this story. I'll finish it. You have my word!**

**Random bit of Wisdom: If Apple created the iHouse, it wouldn't have any Windows.**

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV:<strong>

So, Angel and I were ahead of everyone else by a point, thanks to her amazing push up skills. I intended to keep it that way.

Still, I felt things were moving a bit too slow. I mean, we couldn't just have everyone earning a point a day. That was just boring. We only had three days left for Boot Camp, until my mom came back from her business trip.

So, I decided to turn _everything_ into a quest for points.

Today was the day we were heading back to the cabin, so I decided that I would award points for who could get there fastest. 5 points for the winner, 4 points for second place and 3 points for third place.

At six in the morning, I began gently kicking the flock awake.

First, I kicked Fang awake, since we'd fallen asleep next to each other after our… outing the night before. The second my foot brushed his,

"Mmmnughf," Nudge mumbled when I kicked her, "Just five minutes more…"

"The early birdkid gets the worm!" I called, moving over to Gazzy.

"Yeah," he muttered, turning over, "but the second mouse gets the cheese."

I pretended I didn't hear that.

I went over to Angel, and when I kicked her she just snuggled deeper into her snowy white wings.

I walked over to Iggy, who was sleeping beside Ella, their hands intertwined.

Say it with me now: Awwwww!

Oh, well. Cuteness or not, they were gonna have to wake up. I kicked Iggy between the shoulder blades. Nothing. I kicked him on the shin. Nothing. I even kicked him on the head a few times. Nothing.

Damn, that kid was a heavy sleeper.

Trying once more, I kicked him where it _really_ counted. Hard. It worked, and Iggy shot up, but promptly fell over again, rolling around and clutching his groin.

I don't know why, but I just _love_ waking Iggy up in the cruellest ways possible. Maybe because I can't wake him up any other way. Once, one of his stink bombs went off in his room, and he didn't even twitch.

Ella, who had been rolled over by Iggy, was awake now too.

So, everyone was awake.

But, as any teenager will tell you, there's a big difference between being _awake_ and being _up_. Everyone was still being lazy, not really standing up. Well, there was really only one thing to do in this situation…

"First one up gets a point!" I yelled. Actually, _I_ was the first one up, but the rest of the flock didn't think about _that_ little detail, because they immediately shot up. It seemed like Iggy was up just a _little_ bit before everyone else, so I reluctantly gave his and Gazzy's team a point.

Damn.

That was okay though, because we were still tied for first place.

Since everyone was up already, I announced my plan.

"This entire thing has been going _way_ too slowly," I started, "so we need to start racking up points. By racing home."

"That's not fair! You're just going to go into your warp-drive mode!" Gazzy said instantly. Yup, that's the flock: Complain first, act second.

"Actually, it is fair," I said, "I'm not going to go super fast," I paused. "Even then, I could still probably kick your butts though."

Fang laughed. "You're on," he said, smirking.

Uh oh. That meant that Fang was in super competitive mode now. Not good.

Oh well. Maybe I'd wipe his tears up when I got back to the cabin an hour before everyone else. Not that he'd cry. More like…brood.

"So what are we waiting for?" Nudge cried, "Let's GO!"

"Hold your horses!" I hollered. Wow. There were three "H" words in that sentence.

…God, I should just be diagnosed with ADHD now.

"We'll have to carry Ella back somehow," I said, gesturing to Ella, who was now looking like she wanted to disappear from embarassment.

Uh, now that you mention it…

"Hey, where's Ella?" Iggy asked, frantically swatting the air. "We were holding hands like, _one second_ ago, and now she's…gone."

Well if this isn't a WTF? moment, then I don't know what is. Did Ella just disappear? Like, _gone_ disappear? The race forgotten, everyone started to panic.

Time for me to slip into leader mode: Ignore weirdness, concentrate at the task at hand.

"Everyone fan out!" I ordered. "You've got 20 minutes to search the area for anything that might be Ella's!"

I have to say, if there's one thing the flock's good at, it's taking action and not thinking too much about it. They would worry about other things later, but for the moment, the number one thing was finding out if Ella was okay or not. We might have been out of practice in flying and endurance, but this was one thing that would never change. We were always good in a pinch.

I got to work.

* * *

><p><strong>Ella's POV:<strong>

I was holding hands with Iggy one second, and the next, I was tumbling through nothingness. I lost all sense of up and down, right and left. It was like falling into a wormhole or something. Nothing existed, but at the same time, I felt a sort of gravity, like the infinite world was just skimming my fingertips.

I guess my life just isn't a romance novel, because the one thought in my head wasn't _oh no, Iggy!_ it was, _oh shit, I'm going to die_.

What was happening? Was this what dying felt like? Was I having a stroke? Was this the end?

The blackness swirled on.

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV:<strong>

Oh. My. God. This was my worst nightmare: That someone I really cared about would get hurt or kidnapped. And _Ella_? She was my half-sister for crying out loud! She had no ties with Itex whatsoever! She didn't have enemies! Who the hell would want to take her? More importantly, _where_ the hell was she?

She'd just disappeared. Poof. Gone. How did that work?

I was circling around, sometimes walking, sometimes flying, looking for a hint, a clue of where Ella could have gone. There was nothing though. It just looked like she'd disappeared into thin air. No footprints, no nothing.

Gosh, this was frustrating.

"Don't worry," a deep voice said from behind me.

Fang. Of course. He was always here for me.

"I…I just can't help it," I admitted, adjusting a few of my primary feathers so I tipped downwards a bit. "I've got no idea where she is, what happened to her, or why she disappeared at all!"

"I know," he said, swooping to the side, scanning the ground, "but you'll figure this out."

He said that so…confidently. Like he knew I had this under control. What was up with that?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Fang almost smiled, despite the stress we were under. "You're Maximum Ride," he said. "You'll know what to do."

Ooookay. That was really cheesy, not to mention cryptic. _You'll know what to do_?

* * *

><p><strong>Third Person POV:<strong>

A lady in a white lab coat glanced up from her computer.

"Ma'am," she said, "it seems that Ella's experienced some premature reactions to Test 31S-54."

The Director looked up with a gasp. "What do you mean?" she asked, frantically searching through some paperwork.

"She's… entering the fifth dimension ma'am," the lady said, trying some calculations out.

The Director's face paled, but she kept her cool. This was part of her training. Keep cool and calm under pressure. She would know what to do.

"How soon?" The Director asked.

"Any minute now," the lady replied.

"Very well then," The Director said with a sigh, "begin preparing the emergency procedure we simulated earlier.

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV:<strong>

We had searched for about fifteen minutes now. Nothing. God, what was wrong? Usually when someone went missing, we'd have some sort of _lead_, or clue, usually in the form of an attack, but _still_. This…random disappearance?

Something didn't clue in with me.

I was mulling this over in my mind when I heard a shout down below.

"ELLA!" Nudge shrieked, "ELLA! Can you hear me?"

What the-

I dove downwards, my speed easily exceeding three hundred miles per hour. I landed beside Nudge, who had drawn the entire flock around her. I looked down, and almost screamed with relief.

It was Ella, lying down, her eyes half closed. She was okay. She looked a bit woozy, but okay. Thank God.

I knelt down. "Ella?" I said, gently prying her eyes open. "Where were you?"

She groaned, finally hauling herself into a sitting position. "What happened?" she croaked.

The flock looked at each other, stunned. This situation just kept on getting weirder and weirder.

"We were just talking, and you just suddenly disappeared," I said, concerned. "You don't remember anything? Who could have taken you, what happened to you?"

She shook her head slowly. "All I remember is…this blackness," she said finally. "I was spiralling through blackness. Then, the blackness just went away and I was here."

Damn. What was going on here?

* * *

><p><strong>Oooo…and the plot thickens…<strong>

**Please R&R? It'll make me update loads faster, I promise!**


	9. This again?

**Yeah…this chapter is really short. I just wanted to end here though, because the next chapter has some MAJOR plot developments.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR.**

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV:<strong>

I was sitting beside Ella, trying to coax more information out of her. Did she remember anything else, other than the swirling blackness?

"What was the last thing you saw?" I asked, handing her some water. She wasn't feeling too great, so the flock had decided to keep her lying down for a while.

"I saw you… saying to 'hold your horses'…" Ella mumbled, trailing off.

"Anything else?" I pressed.

Now, I'm sure you all don't think it's fair that I'm interrogating a girl who just disappeared and seemed to have entered a spiraling black vortex, but this could mean the difference between the life and death of the flock.

We _thought_ we had destroyed Itex, but sometimes… things aren't what you think. Just like that one time Gazzy _thought_ liquid nitrogen was only good for making fog, and left all sorts of little canisters of the stuff all over the house.

Anyways, there was always the possibility that Itex _wasn't_ destroyed, and was now doing some really freaky crap to my half-sister.

Call me paranoid, but…

"Uh, I'm not sure," Ella admitted, her brow furrowing in concentration. "I remember a feeling though."

"Great!" I encouraged enthusiastically. "What did you feel?"

"I felt like I was… going somewhere? I don't know. I just felt like I was heading somewhere, some direction."

Helpful.

"Do you remember any voices, any colors?" I asked again.

"Nope," she replied, taking a sip of the water. "Nothing."

* * *

><p><strong>Fang's POV:<strong>

I sat on the ground with Iggy and Nudge, trying to sort out our current predicament.

"So," Iggy started. "We're basically in the middle of nowhere, Ella's just disappeared and reappeared again while we were going to head back to the cabin from our race. After we get back to the cabin, we have to get back _home_, because Dr. M's getting back from her business trip soon. And we still don't know what just went down with Ella."

Huh. Couldn't have said it better myself.

"So what do we do now?" Nudge asked, twirling a piece of hair nervously between her fingers.

"I think we should first search the entire area once more, just to make sure we haven't overlooked any clues that might help us understand Ella's disappearance," I said. "I mean, we don't really know anything about what happened to her, so for all we know, it was Itex, and they might have left something behind."

Call me paranoid, but…

"I don't know… I mean, this is _Itex_ we're talking about. If they could make bird babies eighteen years ago, I'm pretty sure they've advanced enough so they won't leave any clues or anything behind," Nudge pointed out.

"I sort of agree with Nudge," Iggy interjected. "We've already combed the area, like, a thousand times, and once more won't make that big of a difference."

"So… What should we do?" I mused.

"Why don't we just go home and try grilling Ella for more info then?" Nudge suggested. "We won't be doing much good here, and Dr. M's going to get back soon anyways."

"That's going to be a lot of flying," I said uncertainly. "We'd have to make a few stops. Plus, I hate to say it, but someone would have to carry Ella."

"That's fine. It'll be like the good old days," Iggy said, as he stood up to stretch. "About the carrying Ella thing… she's not that heavy. And having her in my arms for hours on end? Not a problem."

I rolled my eyes, standing up. "I'll go get Angel and Gaz."

I still had my doubts, though. Iggy had carried Ella before, and had to pass her to someone else after a few hours. Ella was like another sister to me, but I just wasn't sure if it was all that practical, always traveling with her.

A few minutes later, we'd assembled the entire flock, minus Max, who was still with Ella.

"Just thought I'd let you guys know; we're heading home," I said, looking at Angel and Gazzy.

"That's fine," Angel said, shrugging. "I heard you thinking about it a few minutes ago, and packed my bags. I'm not sure you can carry Ella the whole way, Iggy. She's not very heavy, but she's still practically up to your shoulder."

"Angel," Iggy admonished, "What did we tell you about reading other people's minds?"

"I know," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "But at least I got ready ahead of time!"

I sighed inwardly. That Angel. You just can't stay mad at her sometimes. "When are we leaving?" Gazzy demanded, bouncing around on his toes.

"As soon as Ella's feeling a bit better," I answered.

A little while later, the Gasman, Nudge, Iggy, and I had packed our bags, as well as Ella and Max. Max had said that Ella was feeling much better now, so we were ready to go.

"Okay guys, U and A!" Max called from the head of the V-formation we were going to take off in. Like we planned, Iggy was holding Ella, and the rest of us were carrying the bags.

Just then…

"Uh, guys? Where's Ella?"

I sighed. This wasn't going to turn into some kind of cruel running joke now, was it?

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, it was short. Sorry! But, I'm pretty sure you guys would rather have a short update than no update at all! Please review, even though it was short, and probably sucky. These reviews honestly put a perma-grin on cherryblaster's face!<strong>


End file.
